Mano Ganesan blames Sri Lankan Consulate in Canada for fabricating stories on his visit

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 November 2008, 15:27 GMT]
Western Province People's Front (WPPF) parliamentarian and the convener of the Civil Monitoring Committee (CMC) in Colombo, Mano Ganesan, who returned to Colombo last Friday after a visit to Canada on the invitation by a Canadian organisation, blamed the Sri Lankan Counsel General in Toronto for fabricating a story in Sri Lankan Defence Ministry website on his trip to Canada. The story had alleged that Mr. Mano Ganesan was invited to Canada by the LTTE to attend a meeting "to give boost to LTTE fund raising."

"The fallacious tale says that I was to attend a LTTE sponsored meeting at University of Oshawa in Toronto on 18 November Tuesday when I was actually at meetings with Canadian federal foreign ministry officials and Hamilton East-Stoney Parliamentarian Hon. Wayne Marston miles away in Ottawa on the identical day," Mr. Ganesan said in a press release issued from Colombo on Monday.

The author of the story, Bandula Jayasekara, the Sri Lankan counsel general in Canada who was a former correspondent of the Sinhala nationalist English daily 'The Island', "exposed his credibility by the fabricated story posted in the defense ministry’s website," Mano Ganesan said.

"I was invited to Canada by the Canadian Forum for Justice and Peace in Sri Lanka convened by Mr. Jim Davis and Mr.S.Loganathan."

"The name of the forum speaks for itself. It is a Canadian organization dedicated for the protection of human rights and equality of all Sri Lankan ethnic groups. I participated as a guest speaker in the meeting titled as ‘Ending the war and bringing justice and peace to Sri Lanka’ in Toronto at the Steelworkers Union hall on 16th Sunday," Mano Ganesan said.

"The meeting was moderated by Khaled Mouammar, president of Canadian Arab Federation. Co speakers with me were Ms. Amina Sherazee, Barrister and Human Rights Activist and Professional Lawyer and Activist Mr. Rocco Galati and Co-Convener of the Forum Mr. Jim Davis. I know nothing about any other meeting."

"Bandula Jayasekara, the Sri Lankan Counsel General in Toronto cooked up this story and got it loaded in the defense.lk on Thursday 20, 2008."

Jayasekara's story also said that a ‘large number of Lankan Tamils living in Canada’ sent emails to Oshawa University and got this ‘meeting' canceled.

"This is laughable when the only repeated complains to me in Canada was that I did not stay longer more than six days," Mano Ganesan said adding that he was given a warm welcome by the diaspora Tamils in Canada.

"The meetings arranged by the Canadian Forum for Peace and Justice in Sri Lanka and discussions arranged by Canadian Tamil Congress were very successful," he further said.

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